We here at Crooked Gremlins feel that the shield guy plays an integral part in well, just about everything. Do you know where your shied guy is? Is he protecting your children from herpes? He probably is.

Carter and I have been playing a great deal of Modern Warfare and our frequent poster, Blue Froman, has been accompanying us into the fray, shield in tow, ready to sacrifice kill-to-death ratio for the greater good. That control point too hot to just run in? Send in the shield guy, draw their fire, then swoop in guns blazing and CAP THAT FUCKING POINT!

First thing's first - You see those games over on the right hand side of the site? If you click on one, then buy it, a percentage of the sale goes to keeping The Crooked Gremlins afloat. In a sea of cash. Money.

In case you couldn't figure it out, we've been playing this game quite a bit recently. So it's on our minds, and what's on our minds tends to wind up in the comic.

The moral questions posed by Wednesday's strip are nowhere to be found here, mostly because this is a joke about the multiplayer portion of the game - something I have described as digital paintball with cooler rules.

This is a nod to a really cool game-changing mechanism that rewards teamwork and sacrifice in a unique way. See, the person who utilizes the riot shield is very likely to have the worst kill-to-death ratio, and if that kind of thing is important to everyone, then no one will want to actually be the Shield Guy. And that's too bad, because the Shield Guy is awesome.

I'm interested to see how this character class will function as the online gameplay evolves. Will people learn to set up traps for the Shield Guy and his protectees? Will we start seeing "Flying V" formations of Shield Guys in the Ground War gametypes, where there are more bodies to be had? I'm curious, and it'll be fun to watch.

In the meantime, it's really fun to have a guy on your team who is willing to give up a good score to help the team achieve victory. It is the very essence of team work, and it's far too under-rewarded. I don't know if the Shield Guy gets Assist points for everyone killed because of him, but he really should.

Our very own Blue Froman (yes, of the Pittsburgh Fromans) represents the Shield Guy union in our nightly matchmaking. He is feared and revered, as well he should be.